What We Believe

What We Believe

The United Methodist Church is an 12.5-million-strong global church that opens hearts, opens minds and open doors through active engagement with our world.

John Wesley and the early Methodists placed primary emphasis on Christian living, on putting faith and love into action. This emphasis on what Wesley referred to as “practical divinity” has continued to be a hallmark of United Methodism today.

Baptism

People of any age can be baptized in the United Methodist Church. This includes people from infancy through adulthood, but once is sufficient because it is God’s act, not a denomination’s. (If you were baptized in another faith and later join a United Methodist church, you can “confirm” or “reaffirm” that baptism, but God got it right the first time.)

Ordinary water and the hands of a minister are the tools of baptism in our faith.

Communion

Communion is an act of worship that uses bread and wine (unfermented grape juice, actually) to open ourselves to God’s love, to remember Christ’s life and to be bound to a bigger community.

United Methodists have an “open table.” It’s not “our” table, but the family table to which Jesus welcomed everyone and a sacred time of inclusion. (You don’t have to be a member. You don’t have to be baptized. You don’t have to be an adult. It really is open to all.)

Confirmation

The act by which persons who were baptized as infants or young children (or, because of other special circumstances, could not make the baptismal vows themselves) make their first public statement of their declaration or profession of faith. In this sense they confirm their faith.

Confirmation is performed in preparation for reception into full membership in The United Methodist Church. Persons who declared their faith in Christ for themselves at baptism are not confirmed inasmuch as they previously made their profession of faith when baptized.

Lovely Lane provides confirmation classes for 8th grade students from September through April each year. We also offer immersion confirmation for youth older than 8th grade. Read more about Lovely Lane Confirmation on our youth ministries page.

Church Membership

If you’re considering membership at Lovely Lane United Methodist we invite you to contact one of our pastors. We hold new member classes a few times a year where we talk about what membership means and opportunities to get involved.